The Bible is More Than Stories of Morality

It is safe to say that most churches want their kids and students to learn the Bible. But in reality it is possible to teach Bible stories without ever teaching the Bible story.

In other words, it is possible to teach the Bible in a way that is not distinctively Christian.

There are many too many approaches to teaching the Bible that teach people values, virtues, and behavior—and that’s it.

That should disturb us.

The Bible is Not a Book or Virtues, but a Gospel Book

The simple fact is the Bible is not just a collection of stories with morals for life application; the Bible is the story of God’s grace in redemption through Jesus Christ. There is a soul-endangering consequence in virtue-based Bible study material, centered on life principles or character qualities, and ripped away from the central focus of the Bible—Jesus Christ.

When I was a young pastor, some people in our church wanted us to get involved in Bill Gothard’s “Basic Life Principles” teachings.

Gothard was well known in the ’70s and ’80s for his curriculum focused on virtue and godly principles. One of the many (emphasis on “the many”) problems with Gothard’s virtue development material was that it was driven by guilt, not by grace.

My theology was certainly not developed when I was in my early 20s, but I smelled something wrong.

In fact, if you were to turn to the index in Gothard’s Advanced Seminar Textbook, you would find the definition of grace to be “Any active force within us giving us the desire and power to do things God’s way” (356).

Sure, one of the implications of God’s grace is that God’s Spirit empowers us to live the Christian life. However, God’s grace is about what God has done for us, not what we do for him.

This may seem like a subtle differentiation, but it can be deadly to your spiritual life. Legalism often masquerades as holiness and virtue, but it is compelled by a fear and not grace. Teaching that relies on guilt and fear does not produce lasting change.

That’s true if you are going to a Bill Gothard seminar or teaching 9 year olds in church.

You see, the Bible is not a virtue book, and we should not teach it that way. It’s a gospel book and it is from the gospel that these virtues flow.

Without Jesus, Virtues are the Goal and Become an Idol Competing with Christ

Christ-centered virtue is compelled through the love of God. Christian virtue is developed as a worshipful response to God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Without Jesus, values and virtues are not Christian at all.

We cannot just teach people morals and behavior without pointing them to Jesus, the one who will transform their hearts and enable that obedience. If Jesus is not at the center of a Bible study resource, that resource is not distinctly Christian—it’s just using the Bible as a book of virtues.

You see, without Jesus, virtues are the goal and not the outcome. Those virtues can and will become an idol—a competitor to the gospel itself.

It’s easy to see that in the fruit of the Gothard movement—but I think we can also see it in the church as children learned virtue, but not Jesus—and then, as teenagers, they try to be good without a relationship with God.

And, trying to live like Jesus, outside of the power of Jesus, dishonors Jesus.

Moving the Pendulum Back to a Better Gospel Center

Christians have known this for centuries, so this is not new to us. However, it seems there is a pendulum swing. And, in our age, many people assumed the gospel and focused on the virtues, practical living, and more.

We think the pendulum swung too far. We are for virtue, but for virtue that is the fruit of the Spirit—the result of a life changed by the gospel. And that gospel cannot be assumed, but has to be taught.

The good news of Jesus Christ encourages values and virtues as a worshipful response to what God has done. The Spirit of God is what empowers the church to live on mission to proclaim and reflect the beauty of the gospel to a lost and broken world.

Virtues, values, and morality are intrinsically tied into the good news of Jesus Christ. Teaching morality without the gospel grows people into legalists.

When we separate right behavior from right belief, we teach our people to, as Jesus said of the Pharisees, clean up their outside appearance without dealing with their internal filth (Luke 11:39).

Through Mission Group I offer robust resources on church revitalization, strategic leadership. breaking growth barriers, and building rhythms of outreach. Learn more.

Ed Stetzer

Ed Stetzer holds the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College, Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center, Dean of the Wheaton College School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership, and is interim teaching pastor of Moody Church in Chicago.

Reader Interactions

Comments

I agree with your article. However, I attended a Gothard seminar as an early follower of Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit I began a walk with the Lord that has continued to mature to this day. God can and does work through even flawed presentations. I cannot remember hardly anything from that seminar, but I know it launched me into a quest to know more of Jesus.

These insights are so helpful. As a participant with my husband in a Bill Gothard Seminar in Chicago’s McCormick Place in 1972-73 I was greatly influenced at the time by Bill Gothard’s teaching. We were a young married couple just starting our family and I am thankful to finally have your insights shed a light on some of the problems I encountered a a result of that teaching.
I write and share with real gratitude.

Ed you note, “However, God’s grace is about what God has done for us, not what we do for him.” I would respond therein lies another subtle distinction that I believe Gothard and others were trying to address — separating the Gospel from practical holiness or sanctification. God’s grace is about what God has done and is doing in us that we might be ever increasing partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1). This is the center – a living and growing work of the Spirit in the life of the believer who is growing in godliness.

I haven’t been through Gothard’s material but I know others who have with mixed experiences. But in my 36 years in Christ I have seen the wreckage of a gospel that was all about justification.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (Titus 2:11-14)

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About

Church planter and revitalizer, pastor, trainer, and author of dozens of articles and books.

This page is full of resources from Ed’s new venture, Mission Group. You can find online resources including training courses, free downloads, a practical church/ministry blog, and more.

Ed Stetzer

Ed Stetzer, Ph.D., holds the Billy Graham Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and serves as Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center. He has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches, trained pastors and church planters on six continents, holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and has written a dozen books and hundreds of articles.

Stetzer is the North American regional director for the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, a contributing editor for Christianity Today, a columnist for Outreach Magazine, and is frequently cited or interviewed in news outlets such as USAToday and CNN. He is the Executive Editor of The Gospel Project, a Bible study curriculum used by more than one million individuals each week.

He is the co-host of the BreakPoint This Week radio program with John Stonestreet. He also serves as Visiting Professor of Research and Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Visiting Research Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has taught at many other colleges and seminaries.